By Johnathan Paoli
Madlanga Commissioner Sesi Baloyi has delivered a blistering critique of the initial warrant officer’s testimony of accidentally, without ill intent, contaminating the crime scene in Aeroton, south Johannesburg in a 715kg cocaine bust.
Appearing before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday, Warrant Officer Marumo Magane outlined how he and a provincial traffic police official, Deputy Director Samuel Mashaba embarked on following and busting a cocaine smuggling operation that culminated in a police operation at a Scania Trucking depot.
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Despite Magane’s claims of “making mistakes” in handling the contraband, Baloyi maintained serious skepticism of the logic of his account.
“So I’m giving you propositions that, one, you were either deliberately compromising the crime scene by contaminating it from the get-go, or you were ignorant about handling a crime scene such as this because you have absolutely no experience in drug busts, it’s not part of your job, and you are ignorant of the national instruction on how to handle a crime scene. Which one is it?” Baloyi asked.
Proceedings opened with Magane detailing how he got involved in the controversial police operation which saw 135kg of a 715kg cocaine bust mysteriously vanish without any trace.
The commission heard that Magane and Gauteng Traffic official Simon Mashaba were among the first officials on the scene after receiving information from former Transnet employee Itumeleng Nku about a container allegedly carrying drugs.
Magane testified that Mashaba contacted him at about 6.25am on 9 July 2021 requesting assistance and manpower to “follow the information” about a truck transporting narcotics.
Despite suspecting the truck contained drugs, Magane and Mashaba allowed it to travel from Germiston to Aeroton before opening the container at Scania’s warehouse.
The witness admitted they never sought a search warrant while the truck was stationary at Yellow Jersey Company in Germiston.
When the container doors were opened, black bags allegedly containing cocaine fell out.
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Instead of preserving the scene and waiting for specialised units, Magane testified that he, Mashaba and Scania employees removed the bags from the container and loaded them onto Magane’s black state-issued Nissan NP300 bakkie.
Baloyi repeatedly questioned why they proceeded without waiting for the K-9 unit, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC) or Tactical Response Team officers.
“Why did you not wait for the relevant components, as you referred to them, to come to the scene before you do anything else?” Baloyi asked.
“Commissioner, my explanation will be that we further wanted, because there were other bags that were stuck inside, so we thought it will be relevant to take all the drugs, or I mean the bags, sorry to say the drugs, to take all the bags and keep them at one place,” Magane responded.
Commissioner Sandile Khumalo also sharply criticised the handling of the scene, focusing on the contamination of forensic evidence.
“So why did you not call them to come and take photographs before you started removing these bags from the container? After you and your team had put your fingerprints all over?” Khumalo asked.
“Commissioner, I did call them, but it was after all the bags were taken from the container,” Magane replied.
The Commission also heard allegations that the scene appeared chaotic and improperly coordinated from the outset.
Baloyi suggested that Magane and Mashaba’s actions indicated there may have been an ulterior motive behind the operation.
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“What it indicates, I want to suggest to you, what it indicates is there was no good intentions on your part to get these drugs to be properly dealt with as prescribed by the law. In fact, you had ulterior motives about putting them in that van and you were going to take them away. They would not be accounted for. What do you say to that?” she said.
Magane denied the allegation, insisting the operation was not planned as a theft, but Baloyi rejected the explanation, saying the operation instead appeared “badly planned”.
“It was badly planned. That’s why it was such a mess. You know nothing about drug operations. We’ve seen that,” she said.
The commission continues.
